Former PSA chairman and veteran banker Fock Siew Wah dies, aged 84
FORMER PSA International chairman Fock Siew Wah, who steered the port operator for over 13 years and grew its global footprint, died on Monday (Jan 6). He was 84.
The veteran banker played a key role leading several public and private sector boards, notably in transport.
He started his career as a junior clerk at OCBC Bank at the age of 19. After a stint as DBS Bank’s head of commercial banking, he led the regional investment banking operations of US banking giant JPMorgan before becoming president and chief executive of Overseas Union Bank in 1988.
He was appointed special adviser to the finance minister, who was then Richard Hu, from 1991 to 1995.
Fock was on the board of DBS Group Holdings from 1999 to 2005, and continued as a special adviser on the bank’s expansion plans and operations in China till 2007.
He was a pioneer in the transportation sector, becoming SMRT’s first chairman in 1987 before helming the board of the then newly formed Land Transport Authority (LTA) from 1995 to 2002.
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He was also a director of Temasek and Singapore Airlines, and chaired Singapore Airlines (Cargo).
Fock was appointed chairman of PSA International in 2005, and helmed the global port operator until his retirement in 2019.
He also topped the National Day Awards list in 2009, when he received the Distinguished Service Order.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is currently in Malaysia to attend the Leaders’ Retreat with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, described Fock as a “pioneer leader with a deep sense of duty” who served for over four decades in the private and public sectors.
“As the founding chairman of SMRT and LTA, and a board member of Temasek, DBS, and Singapore Airlines, he played a key role in shaping our institutions. As chairman of PSA International from 2005 to 2019, he guided its growth into a leading global port operator. His leadership will leave a lasting impact. My deepest condolences to his family during this difficult time,” said PM Wong.
Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote on Facebook that he was deeply saddened to hear of Fock’s passing.
SM Lee noted that they both served on the 1985 Economic Committee, formed to review the country’s economic restructuring in the wake of its first recession that year.
“He has served Singapore with distinction in both the private and public sectors for more than 40 years,” he wrote.
“As one of our pioneer leaders, Siew Wah’s eye for talent and heart for service helped the many organisations he was involved in grow into what they are today. He will be deeply missed.”
DBS chairman Peter Seah noted that Fock made many contributions to Singapore’s financial sector and corporate Singapore.
Seah said: “He was on the DBS board which steered the bank through a time of significant change for the Singapore banking sector, as well as a challenging operating environment in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis and 9/11.”
In a Facebook post on Monday, Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat said that under Fock’s chairmanship of LTA, the agency achieved many milestones, including the opening of the Woodlands Line – the stretch connecting Choa Chu Kang to Yishun today – in 1996, the Bukit Panjang LRT in 1999 and the development of the first integrated transport hub in Toa Payoh in 2002.
Chee added that during Fock’s tenure at PSA, the total cargo volumes handled in Singapore and abroad doubled to more than 80 million twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs, while PSA’s international footprint grew to more than 50 terminals in 17 countries.
“The excellent connectivity we have today and our reputation as a trusted international hub port is built on the strong foundations, hard work and sheer grit of many of our predecessors like Fock,” he added. THE STRAITS TIMES
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